Wireless Charging From a Foot Away Could Be a Dream Come True

Wireless charging is pretty fantastic, but it still suffers from several annoying limitations. After all, the premise that you can charge your phone simply by putting it down on a table, without having to plug in any cables, is enticing. It's too bad that it only works with certain devices, you have to place those devices on a special surface, and you can only charge those devices one at a time.

That might be about to change, thanks to a new device built by a group of MIT alumni. The device, called Pi, can wirelessly charge multiple devices at once, and from up to a foot away. Pi could be a game changer for wireless charging, assuming that everything it promises comes true.

Like other wireless charging tech, Pi uses inductive charging, where a magnetic field produced by Pi triggers a corresponding magnetic field in your device, which generates a charge. Unlike other wireless charging pads, however, Pi uses a new "magnetic field-shaping algorithm" to align the magnetic field with your device, no matter what orientation your device has.

This also means that Pi can charge multiple devices at once. The company states that it can charge up to four devices at once at full power, or more devices at reduced power. This makes it perfect for powering up all your family's gadgets at once, without a single cable.

If all of this sounds too good to be true, you're not wrong. Perhaps the biggest disadvantage of Pi right now is that it requires a specialized phone case in order to work, which is bad news if you're particularly attached to your current case—or lack thereof. If this technology sees more widespread adoption phone manufacturers might start building the Pi charging standard directly into their phones, but for now a phone case is required.

And of course, the Pi hasn't made it to the market yet, so we still don't know quite how well it works, whether it will actually come out, and how expensive it will be. The company says their device will be "sub-$200," but it'll be up to you whether the cost will be worth the convenience.

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